Puni Puni Poemy was originally an in-joke from an episode of Excel Saga, and Watanabe decided to make an OVA based on the joke. Like Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy is a parody of other anime and manga properties, as well as aspects of popular culture. However, in this series, it's the magical girl genre that is parodied the most; and it's this genre that provides the main structure.
The main character of Puni Puni Poemy is Poemi Watanabe, who keeps referring to herself as Kobayashi; this is the last name of the Japanese voice actress for Poemi. She's an extremely hyperactive 10-year-old girl who has a crush on K, the most popular boy in her class. As part of her hyperactivity, Poemi speaks very quickly, and it can be hard to understand her sometimes in the English dub.
Poemi lives with her adoptive parents, Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi; Nabeshin is the animated alter-ego for Shinichi Watanabe. After Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi are killed by Alien #1, Poemi goes to live with her best friend, Futuba Aasu. By the end of the first episode, Poemi discovers that she can transform into the magical girl Puni Puni Poemy.
Futuba is Poemi's classmate, and she has a major crush on Poemi; however, Poemi seems to be rather oblivious to Futuba's feelings for her. Futuba is a parody of Sakura Kinomoto's best friend Tomoyo Daidouji from Cardcaptor Sakura. Futuba, along with her six sisters, are the protectors of Earth.
Like Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy focuses on very exaggerated humor for the visuals. This series, however, also has more in the way of blatant sexual references, as well as hinted at nudity involving both adult characters and minors. The visuals of this series also depict the male aliens displaying their genitalia quite prominently, which looks like a Bungee Ball that hangs down to the knees. In the dialogue of the English dub, swear words show up several times over the course of the two episodes.
Puni Puni Poemy is definitely a series that is being aimed at an older audience. Personally, I would recommend this series to anime viewers who are 17 or 18 years of age and older.
| Puni Puni Poemy | 2 | 2001 | Shinichi Watanabe | J.C. Staff | ADV Films |
